A former senior manager of the University of the South Pacific has lodged a complaint against his employer with Fiji's employment industrial tribunal.

Hasmukh Lal was until recently, CEO of the USP's Pacific TAFE.

Lal confirmed this when contacted by Islands Business in Suva today.

It is believed the termination is not related to an earlier matter, in which Lal was named along several other senior executives of the USP whose appointments were questioned in a confidential report of the university early last year.

That report was authored by then-incoming Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, for a meeting of the executive committee of the USP Council, but was blocked for discussion and recalled by Council chair and USP Pro Chancellor Winston Thompson of Fiji.

The office of the Vice Chancellor was not talking to the media today,

Islands Business has established nevertheless that Lal's last day as Pacific TAFE CEO was Friday, 22 May, and that this role is now under the oversight of USP's acting Deputy Vice Chancellor Education, Professor Jito Vanualailai. In informing staff of the change, VC Pal offered no explanation.

USP's TAFE - Technical and Further Education is a programme of learning of vocational and para-professional courses in commerce, hospitality, humanities, science and technology.

High drama continues at the Pacific’s only regional university, with reports that one of the member country’s that owns the university has signaled it could seek the removal from office of Winston Thompson, currently the pro chancellor and chair of the Council of the University of the South Pacific.

“My government’s position is that Council should instruct the Pro Chancellor to cease and desist from carrying out this investigation into the charges of material misconduct against the Vice Chancellor as these are substantially to do with issues referred to the Commission,” Loau Keneti Sio, education minister of Samoa wrote in a letter addressed to all USP Council members.

“That further, serves a formal caution on the PC (pro chancellor) that his actions are counter to Council’s intent and resolutions to address the issues investigated and reported on by the BDO (accountancy firm), through a process of institutional reform under the auspices of the Commission.

“In the event that the PC does not comply, that Council will begin proceedings to remove him from office.

“This submission is not taken lightly but the viability of our regional university is too important to be put at risk by the actions of one individual,” Minister Sio wrote in his two-page letter addressed to PC Thompson as well as to all the other 11-member countries of the Pacific that co-own USP.

Written on the minister of education of Samoa’s official letterhead, the letter was un-dated, although several Council members have confirmed to Islands Business that it was sent out early this week.

The letters follow the controversy surrounding Thompson’s decision a fortnight ago to form a team to investigate USP Vice Chancellor Professor Pal Alhuwalia on misconduct charges.

Both the associations of staff and students of USP have denounced Thompson’s actions, and in letters sent out to all government owners of the university, both bodies called for their intervention.

“Council had already put in place a procedure for dealing with governance and management issues as well as a process for implementing reforms to the university,” the Sio letter says.

“Council appointed a sub-committee and authorised the appointment of a Commission.

“My government has a very real concern that the investigation into the conduct of the Vice Chancellor by yet another committee is not helpful and not supportive of Council’s resolutions.

“At worst, it impedes the ability of those charged with implementing reforms from doing so.

“I am persuaded by the staff and student letters that this is a matter we must take seriously.

“They are out constituent bodies and the university does not exist without them.

“Students and staff are lobbying for their vice chancellor.

“Council must pay attention to their voices.”

To Minister Sio and his government of Samoa, Thompson has embarked on “a continuous and concerted effort to undermine and obstruct the work of VC Ahluwalia,” and is in defiance of the explicit instructions of the Council in two separate meetings that he and Ahuwalia should commit “to work together for the good of the university.”

“Regrettably, the actions of the PC is creating disruption to the work of the university and the charges against the VC/P (Vice Chancellor/President) is a continuation of his paper brought to the meeting last August seeking to suspend the VC/P.

“This paper was neither endorsed nor approved by Council.

“Notably there are still no minutes for this special meeting of Council despite repeated requests from Council members that they be made available.

“This is a grievous oversight on the part of the PC, and I hope this is not an intentional attempt to nullify Council’s resolutions with regards to the BDO

Report and the appointment of the 3 persons Council Sub-Committee to establish an independent Commission to implement the recommendations of the BDO Report inclusive of governance and management issues.

“The Commission has started its work with a summary of their plan of action that has been forwarded for the information of the USP community.

“I am informed that they have had two visits to Suva since the beginning of the year.”

Samoa also questioned Thompson’s decision to interfere in the operations of the USP, by ordering the self-isolation of Professor Ahluwalia, upon his return from overseas travel in mid-March, at a time when the Fiji Government policy of self- isolation was not applicable to the country the VCP had visited.

“From Council’s perspective, the self-isolation imposed on the Vice Chancellor had the potential to damage the university by impending management putting in place all appropriate mechanisms to address the COVID19 situation for the better protection of our students and staff.

“At that date, this was the Vice Chancellor’s most important task.

“However, and at the same time, the Deputy Pro Chancellor had already served the Vice Chancellor with a letter notifying him that an investigation into his conduct was being undertaken.”

The University of the South Pacific's supreme body, the USP Council has established a team to investigate its vice chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

The formation of the investigative team was announced in a letter Pro Chancellor and chair of USP Council Winston Thompson sent to Council members. The letter was dated yesterday, 16 March 2020.

"I write to advise the Council that following legal advice and in accordance with the provisions of the ordinance to govern the discipline of the vice chancellor, and in consultation with the deputy pro vice chancellor, I have appointed a subcommittee to investigate allegations of material misconduct against vice chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia," Winston wrote in his letter, a copy of which was sent anonymously to Islands Business.

That letter did not however specify the allegations against Professor Ahluwalia, or why two out of the four members of the investigative committee, including its chair, are Fiji Government appointees to the USP Council (Khan and Yee). Tupou is a Tongan lawyer, while Tukana is a co-opted member of the Council.

In addition, Thompson's letter sent out to all education ministers of the 12 countries of the Pacific that are owners of the university, was silent on who raised the allegations, and the perceived conflict of interest of his involvement and that of Khan in this new investigation.

It is also not clear how this subcommittee will operate, given that in its last meeting, the USP Council had formed a three-member commission to oversee the recommendations of an earlier investigation which Khan's former employer, BDO accounting firm in New Zealand had produced.

That BDO audit examined allegations of mismanagement and questionable appointments at the university that were raised by Professor Ahluwalia against his predecessor Professor Rajesh Chandra.

The BDO report has never been publicly released in its entirety. A summary released last September noted: “oversight, governance and control of remuneration is a key weakness across the university” and that four remuneration mechanisms—inducement allowances, responsibility and acting allowances, bonuses and consultancy arrangements—“have collectively been exploited and have led to significant cash leakage across USP over a number of years.”

When this magazine broke the story in May last year about the secret Ahluwalia report, Pro Chancellor Thompson was so infuriated that he told Islands Business he regretted recommending the appointment of Professor Ahluwalia, and that he would have him sacked if he had the powers to do so.

Professor Ahluwalia has since been instructed not to talk to news media, and is in self-isolation this week following a recent trip to the United States.

As we reported earlier today, Ahluwalia's self-isolation at the university's VC residence came about through the instructions of Pro Chancellor Thompson.

Contacted today, Thompson declined to comment on the letter he had sent to members of the USP Council.

The Council of the University of the South Pacific has appointed a committee to implement the recommendations of BDO Auckland, which had been brought in to investigate allegations of mismanagement and abuse of office at the regional university.

In a statement released tonight, the Council says the BDO report resulted in a "range of findings and recommendations that will need to be addressed to ensure the sound operation of the University."

BDO Auckland was engaged to investigate the allegations raised in a paper by the Vice-Chancellor & President, Professor Pal Ahluwalia titled “Issues, Concerns and Breaches of Past Management and Financial Decisions.”

The statement tonight does not specify what BDO's recommendations are, but says the Commission's work will relate to:

Remuneration policies and control

Inducement Allowances

Responsibility and Acting allowances

Bonuses

Consultancy Arrangements

Succession Planning

Human Resources

Transition Arrangements

Governance and Oversight

Operation of Senior Management Team

Interface between Governance and Management

Committee Structure and Responsibility

The Council has promised transparency, saying it will develop an action plan that will be made publicly available, and that a summary of the BDO Auckland report will also be made public "in due course."

The Commission will report to three members of the USP Council; Committee Chairman Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna and Fiji's Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

Winston Thompson, the besieged pro chancellor of the University of the South Pacific has sought the suspension of the USP vice chancellor and president, Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

Ambassador Thompson made the request in a confidential paper he submitted to the USP Council yesterday. The council is currently meeting at a hotel in Nadi, Fiji.

At this point, IB Online is yet to confirm whether the Council is deliberating on Thompson's proposal. All that we were told was the Council meeting finished late yesterday evening because of Thompson's presentation.

It is believed that his 17-page submission concludes with eight recommendations, and that they include a call for the immediate suspension of Professor Ahluwalia and for an investigation into his performance at the regional university.

Thompson accuses the Canadian academic of tarnishing the reputation of the USP and working to undermine its operations.

The confidential paper confirms what the retired Fijian diplomat had told Islands Business magazine in May; that it was his personal wish that Professor Ahluwalia be dismissed.

It follows the leaking of a confidential report authored by Ahluwalia, which makes allegations of gross abuse and mismanagement against high level managers at the university.

The uproar triggered by the Ahluwalia report forced the USP Council to commission an independent investigation into the allegations when they met in May in Vanuatu .

That investigation is complete, but reports reaching IB Online say the BDO Auckland report was—at least initially—not tabled when the Council meeting began in Nadi yesterday.

The Council secretariat instead opted to circulate hardcopy versions of a report compiled by the USP Council's Audit & Risk Compliance committee on the BDO report.

The Compliance committee is headed by Mahmood Khan of Fiji, who is a retired partner of a BDO franchise in New Zealand.